4 Tips for Small Businesses with Hyperlocal Blogs
by Matt on Apr 8, 2010 in Blogging, Content, MY BEST POSTS
As I type this, Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends is hosting an Intuit webinar called Get Fiercely Local Customers Close to You. (You can see the Twitter conversation on the #IntuitSMB hashtag.)
Anita invited me to share some tips for small business with local blogs — tips that answered this question/topic:
How to use a blog to enhance loyalty with existing local customers
That was a tough assignment because I wanted to customize my advice depending on the type of small business, and maybe even its location. But I eventually shared this list of four specific strategies/tactics that I think could apply to a lot of small businesses with hyperlocal blogs in any location.
1. Blog = Community Kiosk
Think of your business blog as the community kiosk, the place where locals go to find out what’s really happening around town — not just what’s happening at your business/store/office. You will create loyalty by becoming a trusted resource for local information.
2. Open Your Blog to Others
Don’t think of it as your blog; think of it as the community’s blog. Yes, you’ll share company news and information on occasion, but to create real local loyalty, you need to do more. You need to open up your blog to others.
Let your blog be the voice of community groups that don’t get attention from traditional media. Invite and publish guest posts from non-profits, local organizations, event organizers, etc. They’ll tell others about what you’ve done and become evangelists for you and your blog.
3. Be Visible Offline
I’ve written before about how posts on local events are some of the most popular content my wife and I write on our local blogs. What I suggest is this: Write about local events before they happen, but also attend events and then blog about them afterwards with photos. Show people what they missed. Be their eyes and ears at local parades, community concerts, etc. If you can’t blog about a big local event, find someone to be a guest blogger for you. (See #2 above.)
4. Avoid Negativity/Controversy
All this talk about being a community resource is fine and good, but it’s still a business blog that you’re running. You don’t have to blog about everything going on in town and risk alienating potential customers. I’d avoid politics on a hyperlocal business blog. I’d avoid being too critical of local groups, organizations, other businesses, and really just about anyone. You don’t have to be the town’s cheerleader who presents everything as Super-Duper Awesome, but you should skip the controversial stuff if you’re trying to build loyal local customers.
Your turn: I don’t know how many local business bloggers read this, but if you’re one, I’d love to get your thoughts on these tips — as well as your own tips for successful hyperlocal business blogging.
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Matt,
I agree with your tips, but I think that we could discuss # 4 a bit. I don’t want to create controversy per se, but at the same time, I speak up about things and I will defend my values. I write about fundamental ideas such as reason in epistemology, selfishness in ethics and laissez-faire capitalism in politics. This is the foundation of my EGO blog. It is a philosophy for here on earth. Talking business, the trader principal is an important part of the exchange of values.
Joel Libava and I made some comments during the #IntuitSMB webinar about being yourself and be transparent in your business activity.
I like your description, community kiosk. Could you say that it is a water cooler conversation at your local place? Have you heard about The Third Place concept?
Hi Martin – I’m not sure what you mean by your “EGO” blog. Is that the town where you live, or a nickname of some sort? In any case, to answer your final question, I’m not familiar with the Third Place concept. Feel free to elaborate if you’d like.
The word EGO means I (am) in Latin. I recommend you to read Anita Campbell’s post, PowerBlog Review: Ego Blog.
http://smallbiztrends.com/2004/08/powerblog-review-ego-blog.html
The third place is the meeting area between your home and your office. From Answers.com:
“In August 2009, Starbucks stated, “We strive to create a welcoming environment for all of our customers. We do not have any time limits for being in our stores, and continue to focus on making the Third Place experience for every Starbucks customer.”"
http://www.answers.com/topic/third-place-1
Okay, thx Martin. I’m looking at the blog now and it looks more like a personal blog to me than a hyperlocal/town blog. Is that correct? This article isn’t about personal blogs — I’d never suggest people not say what they want about any topic on a personal blog. Heck, I write occasionally about politics and other subjects on my own blog, too. But for someone who’s running a business/community blog, I stand by my advice to avoid controversy and negativity. Those things belong on a personal blog, but not so much on a business/local blog.